by Lia London
“Yeah, but we can only play for an hour,” I said. “I got a lot of homework tonight.”
“Those Wiser kids are crazy about homework. If I lose my A average, I’m coming after you, Kincaid.” Hadley laughed, but I know him well enough to know he didn’t feel 100% happy about the intellectual competition.
You and everybody else, I thought.
Chapter Three: Where Magic Comes From
The next day, I ate my lunch on the top bench of the bleachers outside where Hadley and Elizabeth usually joined me. Half-way through my sandwich, I saw Amity climbing up towards me instead. “Well, if it isn’t the famous Amity!” I said, not as nicely as I could have. “Where were you during chemistry today?”
“Oh…Yeah, sorry about that,” she said, sitting down on the bench below me. “I was…trying to test out of the class.”
“What?”
“Well, I went down to Miss Flinckey’s office to see if you guys even allow people to test out.”
“She’s a counselor. Mr. Whittle’s the test guy.”
“Right, but he was too busy to see me. Flinckey said I can’t anyway. I’ll be back in class tomorrow.” She looked half mad and half sad. Squinting up at me, she asked, “How’d it go today, anyway?”
“You got us a perfect score yesterday. Petercriss was not pleased.”
“With you?”
“With you. He takes pride in being the guy that wrecks grade point averages.” Suddenly I laughed. “I guess either you’re going to rock his world, or he’ll up the stakes for all of us.”
She shook her head and stuffed a slice of apple into her mouth. “Can he stomach 95%? I’m not going lower.”
“We’ll find out,” I said.
She started coughing, and I pounded on her back so she wouldn’t choke, but she held up her hand. “Did you see that?” she asked, pointing out onto the field. “That was amazing!”
I looked down at a pack of freshman cheerleaders. “What did they do?”
“They were up in one of their big pyramid things, and the ground buckled right under the tall girl there, and then they started to collapse, but—”
“But the girls flew down,” I said, bored. “They have to do that when the Punkers open Dirt Holes under them. It’s a stupid prank, but common enough.”
“No,” said Amity, shaking her head vigorously. “The girl on top is from Corporal. I met her. She did this flip thing and landed perfectly like it was no big deal.”
“Cool,” I admitted. I saw the girl. She was super petite, but looked like there was nothing but muscle on her. While the other girls kicked at the Dirt Holes and yelled at a nearby Punker, she started doing handsprings up and down the track. I’d never seen anything like it except on TV when it’s all computer animation. “Whoah! That’s brilliant!”
“Yeah, it is,” said Amity.
“The Punkers will have to try harder to make her fall.”
“Dirt bags,” said Amity.
“Dirt Holes,” I corrected. “Some Mages can open up pockets of land. It’s why they get hired as excavators so often.”
“You ever do that to someone?” she asked, eyeing me with that flame-throwing look of hers.
“Nah, I can’t. Earth isn’t really one of my Elements.”
“What happens if a kid gets hurt because one of those things?”
“Find a teacher to heal you. All the teachers can. It’s part of their certification.”
“They can, but they don’t. I saw two Wiser kids limping today, and one Corporal with a burn on his cheek. Somebody did your spark trick, no doubt.” Amity turned and faced me straight on. “Do you really think Mages and Nomers are ever going to get along? Even out there in the ‘real world’, you don’t see many businesses that hire both or cater to both.” She wasn’t accusing me, but I felt challenged.
“But they used to, didn’t they? Way back when? The districts only divided because of schools wanting to meet kids’ needs better.”
Amity sneered and looked out at the field where a Punker was throwing Water Balls at some freshmen. “To meet the kids’ needs, or to meet society’s need to break up the fights?”
***
Seventh period study hall was bad. The teachers and administrators with a free hour rotate through that duty, and it was Mr. Whittle today. Jack sat two seats in front of me and kissed up to Whittle in the worst way. I don’t know how Whittle puts up with it. I mean, Jack got water from the drinking fountain and formed it into a thin cushion to do the wet pants gag, and Whittle didn’t even get mad when some poor Nomer girl sat on it. He chuckled and said, “Now boys, put your magic away until after school.”
Anyway, when the bell rang, Mr. Petercriss came in to talk to Mr. Whittle. He grabbed my arm as I passed by and said, “Your little Nomer friend wanted to test out of my class.”
“Yeah, she told me,” I said, trying to pull away politely.
Mr. Whittle looked at me funny. “You know only incoming freshman can test out,” he said.
“It wasn’t my idea,” I said. “I’m glad she can’t test out. She’s the smartest lab partner I’ve ever had.” I looked right at Petercriss.
That went over like a fairy in a chicken coop. With his free hand, Petercriss jabbed me in the shoulder. “Just make sure chemistry is the only thing you do with that girl, or you’ll lose everything.”
“Are you threatening me, sir?”
Mr. Whittle raised a hand, calming me down. “No, Kincaid. He’s stating a fact. You mingle with Nomers—you get too close—you’ll lose it all.”
I shrugged my arm free. “Whatever you say, sir,” I said, turning to go.
As I reached the door, I heard Petercriss say, “It’ll serve him right if he falls for her.”
Mr. Whittle kind of sighed. “He’ll end up like Flinckey. Lose his Jump.”
I was half way down the hall before I really processed what they’d said. I had no idea what they were talking about.
***
About an hour after Kelsey got home, the doorbell rang. “Kelsey, let Mom in. She must have lost her house key again!” I shouted.
“It’s not Mom. It’s some girl.”
I jumped up from my bed and took the stairs down three at a time. Looking through the peep hole, I saw nothing. Kelsey pulled back the curtains of the living room window, and there was Amity knocking on the glass.
“Hey, are you in there?”
I jerked back in surprise and then felt like an idiot, but I smoothed my hair back and opened the door. “Hi, Amity. What brings you by?”
She started to enter, but Kelsey ran forward and slammed the door on her.
“Kelsey! What are you doing?”
“We’re not supposed to let strangers in.”
I opened the door. Amity looked at me, half cracking up. “Ouch?”
“Oh man, are you hurt?”
“Just my finger,” she said, holding it up. She smiled at Kelsey. “You’re fast.”
“Who are you?” demanded Kelsey.
“It’s okay, Kelsey. This is my lab partner, Amity.” I held the door open wide and Amity walked in slowly, smiling at Kelsey as if trying to appease a vicious guard dog.
Kelsey relaxed. “Did I really hurt you?”
“It’s a little red and throbby, but I’ll survive.”
“Kincaid can heal you,” said Kelsey proudly.
Amity faced me with a pleasantly surprised expression, and I suddenly wondered if my breath stank or if I had stains on my shirt. “Uh, yeah…Do you need me to…?”
She made a big show of examining her finger and shook her head. “I think I’ll pull through.”
I was used to being around girls, but for some reason, Amity made me feel self-conscious. She was so hard to read, even for a girl. I gave up trying to guess and asked, “Again, what brings you by?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “You’re the welcoming committee, remember? As far as I can tell, there are no other seniors living within a five-block radius, so I thoug
ht I’d come bug you since at least I know you.”
“Oh. Yeah. Sure. I was just doing homework. Do you want to come up to my room?”
Kelsey gasped. “Ooooh! Kincaid’s got a—”
“Shut up, Kelsey. She’s my lab partner, okay?”
Amity chewed her lips shut, and followed me up to my room. She paused half-way up the stairs. “What, you don’t fly up the stairs?”
“Magic takes energy, too, you know.”
“It does?” She followed me in, and closed the door to my room with a little wave at Kelsey, who I knew would plant herself in the hall to spy. “I didn’t know that.”
“Shocking, but true,” I said, flopping down on my bed. “Takes as much energy to use Travel Magic as it does to walk or run, just a different kind of energy.”
Amity grunted in thought and sat down on the floor. She has really nice legs, so I tried not to stare by picking up my history book. “You got history with Schooster?”
“Yeah, it’s weird.”
“What do you mean?”
“Each chapter goes back and forth between Mage history and Nomer history. But there’s never anything about them interacting much.”
“I wonder why that is. Two civilizations side by side—”
“Not side by side,” she said. “It’s more like we’re braided together. Separate strands, but forced together.”
I thought about the braids Kelsey sometimes wore in her hair, and the analogy made sense. “There’s always that bit at the end where the hair comes together in one bunch,” I said.
“After it’s been squeezed by a rubber band,” agreed Amity. “Do you think that’s what has to happen to us? We’ll all have to be squeezed before we come together?”
I dropped the history book back on the bed. “Amity, are you for or against desegregation? I really can’t tell.”
Her mouth twisted like she was afraid to answer. “I was against. But mostly because I knew I’d have to leave Wiser. But I want to learn new stuff, too, and I’m starting to think that even the Corporals know stuff I don’t.”
“That’s hard to imagine.”
“What about you? You lobbied for it. What do you think?”
“I wanted others to have the Magian High experience. It’s a really great school.”
“So is Wiser,” she said.
“You don’t feel like Magian is a step up?” I asked. As soon as I said it, I realized it was the worst line I’d delivered yet.
Amity looked at her watch. “I probably better go. I just meant to stop by and say hi.” She got up and opened the door. Kelsey was there, playing with the gaming board in the hall. Something with ponies kicking flowers around. “Is that Binky’s Bouquet?” asked Amity. “I made it to level seven on that once.”
Kelsey stared at Amity like she was made of gummy bears. “Really?! Show me how?”
Amity glanced at me. “Maybe another time.”
Before I could apologize, she had let herself out the front door. Kelsey looked up from the gaming board. “She’s nice.”
***
“Mom, where does magic come from? Is it inherited? Can you learn it?”
Mom sat bent over the bills, and didn’t react right away. When she did, she had her trying-to-be-funny voice: “I don’t know, but if you find some Money Magic lying around, let me know.”
“Mom, I’m serious.”
She sighed and pushed the bills aside. “It’s a complicated question, Kincaid.”
“Hey, you explained babies. Magic should be a snap.”
She got this wry look on her face. “Babies are a physical thing. They come because persons A and B get together and… Well, you know.” She didn’t really blush so much as look tired.
“Okay, so…explain it to me.” I pulled up a dining room chair and sat on it backwards to face her.
She paused. “In a perfect world, we’d all be Mages because magic is passed from one person to another through demonstrations of true affection. Not sex, which may or may not even include love. It’s when someone really cares about someone else and shows it. That’s why it gets passed along from parents to children most of the time, and so everyone assumes it’s hereditary.”
“It’s not hereditary?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, but they haven’t been able to isolate a gene, so…?”
I thought about what Petercriss had said. “Can we lose power by showing that we care?”
“Technically, yes. But if we’re shown real love back, the magic is restored, often even increased.”
“What if I feel it, but don’t show it?” I asked.
“No power lost,” she said, “but no love gained, either.”
“And if I don’t feel it, but I pretend to?”
“If you don’t feel love, you don’t lose magical power, period.”
“Why don’t the Nomers get magic, too, when they receive love from Mages?”
“They do. When Mages condescend…” She put both hands on my shoulders and took a deep breath. “I was born a Nomer, Kincaid, but your father loved me so much that I became a Mage. He lost some of his power at first, but we kept love alive in each other until the magic grew quite strong in both of us.”
“Whoah! I didn’t know…”
“When he died, it left a void of love in our home that would normally have been directed at me,” she explained sadly, “which is why some of my powers have depleted a little.”
“But Kelsey and I love you.”
“Yes, you do.”
There was a beat of silence while that sunk in. “We need to show it more,” I said slowly, suddenly feeling guilty for all the times I totally took her for granted.
She gave me a half-smile. “That would sure help.”
I got up and hugged her really hard, and I meant it, too. It wasn’t a guilt thing. She started to cry, which I hate, but when we pulled apart, she smiled again, happy this time. I sat down and tried to absorb this whole Magic transference concept. “It seems like the way it works, it doesn’t really encourage us to love others, does it? I mean, in case you don’t get loved back.”
“That’s how a lot of Mages see it. Actually,” she sighed, “it’s the only thing that will empower us all. You’ve always been great to your friends, and see how you do? No power lost. But I think you’ve got to be willing to give it all away—all your love—before you’re worthy to receive the power of love.”
“Which is Magic.”
“No. Just the power of love. It’s worth more than magic any day of the week, honey. Any day of the week.”
Chapter Four: Punkers and Protesters
The next morning, I caught up with Amity just before she reached the front steps of the main building. “Hey, Amity, we have to talk. I learned something last night,” I said.
“Yeah, so did I,” she said, kind of grouchy. “You still think you’re superior just because you’re a Mage.”
“What? No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do,” she said, heading up the stairs.
“Amity,” I said, lowering my voice. “I learned how magic is passed on—”
A Water Ball pelted me in the shoulder. I looked past Amity to see Jack and about six other Punkers staring down at me.
“Fire and water don’t mix, Kincaid,” said Jack, tapping two Water Balls together. “You should learn something from that.” He hurled one of the Water Balls at Amity’s face, and she squealed.
“Knock it off, Jack,” I said.
“I’m trying,” he sneered.
The Punkers moved towards us, and Amity and I were forced to back down the steps. When we reached the bottom, they formed a ring around us, all flying a few inches above the ground. With their shoulders almost touching, they locked us in and began to rotate slowly around us, like a hovering wheel of stupid. Except that they all either had Water Balls or flaming thumbs. We’re not supposed to use any magic on campus except Flash Jumping to get to outbuildings for classes, but I knew no one would really see what the
y were doing. Amity and I found ourselves back-to-back like the trapped heroes in the movies always do, except I knew we didn’t have any awesome moves to bust out with.
So I played the diplomat. “C’mon, Jack. Let us in.”
“You can go in. Not her.”
Amity grabbed my wrist.
“Can we talk about this, Jack?” I asked.
“You talk too much, Kincaid. That’s the trouble with you. You need to learn when to shut up.”
Amity stiffened. “You aren’t allowed to use magic on campus. Leave us alone.”
“Tell your Nomer friend she needs to shut up, too. She may be the best at Wiser, but she doesn’t know anything at Magian. Tell her that.” I hesitated. “Tell her!” yelled Jack, moving in closer and stuffing the second Water Ball into my face. It splashed down my chin. He glanced at Amity and flicked a spark in her face. She screamed, and the Punkers all laughed. They started gliding in and out, bumping their shoulders into us and knocking us around. Amity turned and cowered into my chest and I tried to shield her, but we both fell to our knees.
The bell rang, and everybody froze. “I have to get to class,” I said, standing up.
Jack backed up and signaled the others. “Let Kincaid go to class, guys. He needs to keep his grades up if he wants to date a Wiser Nomer.”
He and a guy named Curry opened up just enough room to let me pass, but I wasn’t about to leave Amity to the wolves. I grabbed her hand and pulled her in close under my right arm. Then I pushed through the gap with my left hand sparking from all fingers. Not enough to hurt anything, but enough to get them to flinch back. Amity and I ran up the stairs, still holding hands, and the Punkers followed us, flying as far as the door.
Once inside, I looked back to see them grinning with menace at us. Jack pointed to us with flames coming out of his fingers and laughed.
Amity squeezed my hand before letting go. “Thanks.”